Necessary Roughness
Generally, sports movies (or at least movies about a team sport) take great pains to be able to build its story around a large, varied ensemble cast, each with their own lovable little quirks and character traits, seamlessly brought together to create a story where you care for most of the actors in preparation for the inevitable big showdown that normally closes these types of movies. This 1991 release (ostensibly one of the best movies ever made about college football) pretty much FAILS on that level, but still pulls it together enough on the strength of its three lead performances which are good enough to overcome the lack of a colorful supporting cast (mostly made up of actors who had little to no career otherwise). Seemingly a gridiron version of Major League (something that was emphasized in the advertising campaign) telling a story about a bunch of losers and misfits who come together to form a winning team (or at least a one win team which is significant given the circumstances), the storyline actually takes its cue from the real life 1987 scandal surrounding Southern Methodist University (SMU) which was essentially given the âdeath sentenceâ by The NCAA for countless infractions and outright violations of collegiate sports regulations, leading to all coaches being fired and all of its athletes being expelled and blackballed from ever playing again, having to rebuild the team from its own student body without the aid of scholarships, leading to them cancelling their entire scheduled season in 1988 and not actually being able to enjoy a winning season again until 2009. Here, itâs the fictional Texas State Armadillos (said to have won the National Championship the year before) who have had the proverbial nuclear bomb dropped on their football program by The NCAA for steroids, kickbacks and countless other violations leaving only an empty shell of what they once were, a situation thatâs just fine with legendary coach turned ESPN college football analyst Ed âStraight Arrowâ Gennero (Hector Elizondo), a guy whom weâre told had without hesitation thrown no less than 5 All American players off of his own team for breaking the rules and yet had still managed to win The Cotton Bowl. Within minutes of defending The NCAAâs team destroying sanctions against the school on national TV, he is approached by that same schoolâs President (actor turned politician Fred Dalton Thompson) and offered the head coaching job at TSU on the mentality that only the cleanest college football coach in the country can bring the school back from the brink, an offer that Gennero accepts and with it, we have the introduction of the first of the 3 major characters in the film played exceptionally well by Elizondo as a guy who calmly accepts that he will be in for a rough ride here, culling his team tryouts from the student body whom mostly (one can presume) have never seriously played ball before in their lives. To that end, he brings in as his assistant (and defensive minded) coach none other than Robert Loggia, a guy who fits so smoothly into the role of a grizzled, easily aggravated football coach that itâs remarkable that he didnât play these types of characters more often (goodness knows that he played enough mafiosos and criminals). As the second major character now in the mix (and the only one with balls enough to stand up to Gennero and tell him when heâs wrong given their many years of friendship), the duo take a long, hard look at their situation and itâs pretty dire: Upon meeting the Dean Of Students (Larry Miller, one of the best at playing an asshole twerp) and realizing that not only does he HATE football in general (considering it to be a waste of a collegeâs resources), but also the sudden realization that he was one of the main catalysts for the previous teamâs expulsion makes Gennero suddenly realize that they might have just gotten a raw deal with this guy as this corrupt Dean fully intends to see that they continue to âfollow the rulesâ strictly to the letter until they give him an excuse to get rid of football at the college entirely even as Miller himself sees little to nothing wrong with engaging in blatant sexual harassment of female faculty members. As if that isnât bad enough, the tryout brings out any coachâs worst nightmare, a bunch of character types ranging from a clichĂ© Aussie (Louis Mandylor) to a spoiled rich kid (Jason Bateman) to various archetypes that might as well be labeled Army Guy, Martial Arts Guy, Cowboy Guy, Great Athlete Who Canât Catch The Ball For Shit, and worse of all, a potential quarterback who canât even throw a proper spiral pass. This leads Loggia to pull off his major masterstroke, tracking down a near legendary high school quarterback who passed up on going to college after his fatherâs death in order to run the family farm instead. Now 34 years old, Paul Blake (Scott Bakula in the defining MOVIE role of his career) comes off as being a hard edged country boy who initially lies to Loggia about not missing the game which belies the fact that he continues to throw touchdown passes to a custom made scarecrow in his own field, but eventually gives in to the temptation of âwhat could have beenâ and enrolls at the college to finally play ball again at an age when many NFL quarterbacks are already past their prime. Bakulaâs Blake does some recruiting of his own, signing up a former star player turned post grad professor (Sinbad) who had walked away from the game after having had a falling out with his coach but whom it turns out still has a year left of eligibility to play football which leads to him strapping it back on as a lineman for the team. Unfortunately, those familiar with Sinbadâs past as a comedian will be sorely disappointed here as he seems set up to be the movieâs scene stealer only for him to mostly blend into the crowd instead. That leaves the final component, a kicker who can nail field goals without falling on their ass, as they bring in Kathy Ireland as a star girl soccer player for that very task, a plot development that foresaw that very same thing of college teams having a female place kicker become a real life staple. The filmâs emphasis on pathos and adversity over slapstick humor is what separates it from most comedies of this type, with the team enduring one ass kicking after another on the field (including a scrimmage against an all convict team consisting of several NFL legends led by Dick Butkus!) coupled with the near impossible physical torture of having most of the players being forced to play âIron Man Footballâ both ways due to the lack of any depth which all leads up to a showdown with the number one team in the state of Texas, a rivalry only intensified by a bar fight between the two teams earlier on in the story. And thatâs where the movie scores its biggest points is right there at the end with that very showdown, helped immeasurably by the music score composed by none other than Bill Conti (best known for the inspiring themes from Rocky) and the reconciliation of the differences between Elizondoâs Gennero and Bakulaâs Blake (with Loggia more or less serving as their go between). Itâs one thing to have your typical sports movie lead up to having the âbig gameâ at the end, but itâs quite another to have our team looking for that very FIRST win against an impossible opponent no less, again making for a more than apt comparison with Rocky, incredibly undeniable in the impact that the outcome carries while still getting in the expected humor quotient, most notably in having Bakulaâs huge Samoan center (Peter Navy Tuiasosopo) developing a massive crush on Irelandâs pretty kicker, so much so that he becomes defensive of her even from his fellow teammates. There is also the sight of Loggia (forced into being head coach after an unexpected development with Gennero) giving undoubtedly the greatest halftime speech in movie history in what is also one of Loggiaâs greatest onscreen acting moments ever as well (only Pacino in Any Given Sunday comes close). But the truly amazing thing about the ending is in just how much weâve come to CARE about these players due mostly to having seen them all through the eyes of our three lead characters after all of the adversity which theyâve been through coming to a head in one of the most uplifting of sports movies, one which takes an almost unorthodox approach in order to bring out the viewerâs emotions in a way which should NEVER have worked but does so anyway due mostly to the three fine actors who carry it on their shouldersâŠ
9/10